Civil Rights Attorney and Noted Author Receive Honorary Degrees from UNC Asheville

Anne Ponder, UNCA’s sixth chancellor.

By Urban News Staff

At the UNCA Commencement Ceremony on May 13, Chancellor Anne Ponder will confer honorary doctoral degrees on esteemed Southern writer Doris Betts and prominent civil rights attorney James E. Ferguson II.

Ferguson, one of the country\’s most prominent civil rights attorneys, is co-founder and president of the Charlotte law firm of Ferguson, Stein, Chambers, internationally renown for expert handling of cases involving civil rights, civil liberties and rights of the accused.

Attorney James E. Ferguson II.

A native of Asheville and 1960 graduate of Stephens-Lee High School, Ferguson was the first president of Asheville Student Committee on Racial Equality (ASCORE), which held peaceful demonstrations that led to the desegregation of local establishments during 1959–65. An activist and leader at North Carolina College at Durham (now N.C. Central University), he graduated summa cum laude and attended Columbia University Law School as a John Hay Whitney Fellow.

Ferguson has devoted his career to change through peaceful means. He has received numerous awards, including the National Conference of Community and Justice Humanitarian Award and the Frank Porter Graham Award of the North Carolina Civil Liberties Union. A longstanding board member of the American Civil Liberties Union, he co-founded the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers and was past president of the North Carolina Academy of Trial Lawyers. He also is a member of the exclusive Inner Circle of Advocates and a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Ferguson has held positions at Harvard, N.C. Central and Santa Clara law schools and is an honorary fellow of the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He coordinated South Africa\’s first Trial Advocacy Program under the auspices of the Black Lawyers Association of South Africa.

	Accomplished writer Doris Betts.

Betts, one of the South\’s most accomplished writers, has produced nine short-story collections and novels, including “Souls Raised from the Dead,” a 1994 New York Times top 20 best books selection. The annual Doris Betts Fiction Prize of the North Carolina Writers Network and the Betts Professorship in Creative Writing at UNC Chapel Hill are among her many tributes.

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For more information about commencement,

call UNC Asheville\’s Provost Office at

828-251-6470